Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

J. Lee Thompson

Writers:

Paul Dehn (written by)
Pierre Boulle (characters)

Release Date:

30 June 1972 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

All new! The revolt of the apes. The most awesome spectacle in the annals of science fiction!

Plot:

In a futuristic world that has embraced ape slavery, Caesar, the son of the late simians Cornelius and Zira, surfaces after almost twenty years of hiding out from the authorities, and prepares for a slave revolt against humanity.

Plot Keywords:

Ape | Future | Rebellion | Revolution | Slavery

Cast

Roddy McDowall	...	Caesar
Don Murray	...	Breck
Natalie Trundy	...	Lisa
Hari Rhodes	...	MacDonald
Severn Darden	...	Kolp
Lou Wagner	...	Busboy
John Randolph	...	Commission Chairman
Asa Maynor	...	Mrs. Riley
H.M. Wynant	...	Hoskyns (as H. M. Wynant)
David Chow	...	Aldo
Buck Kartalian	...	Frank - Gorilla
John Dennis	...	Policeman
Paul Comi	...	2nd Policeman
Gordon Jump	...	Auctioneer
Dick Spangler	...	Announcer

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

West Germany:16 (nf) | Brazil:12 | UK:12 (video re-rating) (2003) | UK:15 (video rating) | UK:AA (original rating) | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | USA:PG | Finland:K-18 (DVD rating) | Canada:PG (Canadian Home Video rating) | Germany:12 (re-rating) | Australia:M | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Avenue of the Stars, Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

This is the only film from the original Planet of the Apes (1968) series of 5, that was not rated G, and the only entry released without a pre-title sequence. Reason: the opening was deemed too violent, and the producers wanted to avoid an R rating. The opening showed police on night patrol shooting an escaped ape and discovering his body covered with welts and bruises that are evidence of severe abuse. (Governor Breck and MacDonald refer to this incident in a scene that survived the final cut.) That and many other bloody images were deleted after a pre-release print was shown to a preview audience. The opening scene appears in the novelization and the comic book adaptation of the movie. On November, 2008, the Blu-Ray unrated version restored many of those graphic scenes, but not the pre-credit opening.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Throughout the film, the supposedly wireless telephones are simply standard telephones with the wires removed and the wire outlets taped over. This is most noticeable when Mr. McDonald is talking on a red phone and the tape color does not match.

Quotes:

Lisa: N-No...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Great New Wonderful (2005)

Roddy's great in next terrific sequel (but people still don't seem to get it)

MORD39 RATING: *** out of ****

Roddy McDowall gives maybe his best APES performance as Caesar, an intelligent chimpanzee stuck in a time he was never meant to live in.

Nearly twenty years after ESCAPE..., Caesar has learned that apes have become household servants for humans to use. Their stature has increased, and their learning abilities too. Though no reason is given in the film (a typical criticism by some viewers) one may presume that the mysterious plague which killed all dogs and cats somehow had an effect on primates. Even Ricardo Montalban's character says "the pets became larger...and larger...until now......"

Soon, Caesar sees himself as a savior who can lead the apes out of their bondage and assert their independence. He leads the charge as the apes revolt and take over, apparently planting a seed that could eventually grow into the world we saw in the original PLANET OF THE APES classic.

The film again is intelligent, and action-packed. It's true that by today's over-blown standards, the ape revolt can't look as awesome as it did in 1972...but the focus here is on the character of Caesar, an ape from another time who is not responsible for what he is, and who has to stifle his anger over the state of his fellow simians and cope with his situation.

CONQUEST is good, solid science fiction.